Does anyone remember that prior to their releasing Blu-ray, Sony had this idea about making those blu-ray disks playable on only one machine? Once they played for the first time in a particular machine, they could only be played in that particular machine. That way you couldn't sell them as used, nor lend them out, nor even play them on another Blu-ray player in your home. They later dropped that idea but the mentality is still there. And lets not forget some years earlier when they had extra software on their music CD's that when played on a PC, would install software without the users knowledge that ended up affecting that PC's security. Sony has a history of trying to screw their customers under the guise of fighting piracy.

starlost:a used 2008 toyota tacoma doesn't have the same quality and longevity as a new 2013 toyota tacoma and that is why it is cheaper. i'm waiting for the day a car always works and never wears out unless it gets a scratch in the paint and then will never work again.that disc either works or it doesn't.if a disc aged like a car or like how just about anything else it would be a better comparison. maybe they should start doing the limited plays system again. didn't best buy have a movie player years ago that let you play a disc a few times? it bombed.

A used book is just as readable and usable as a new one, and doesn't lose value through wear and tear the way a car does. And yet publishers have never attacked the legitimacy of used bookstores.

The video game publishers are full of shiat. They are greedy little piggies that think they are somehow different than any other maker of tangible goods. The right of first sale is a universally acknowledged right of consumers. You buy a book, a CD, a magazine, a DVD, a Blu-Ray, a car, a bicycle, or anything else, and you are perfectly within your rights to lend or resell that object without owing another dime to the manufacturer. Once you pay the purchase price, it is yours to do with as you please. The video game industry is the only industry that consistently attacks this principle, this fundamental right of consumers. People shouldn't stand for it. Being able to buy and sell used goods, things that you own, should be a right that you should not relinquish easily.

Antimatter:You walk into a barnes and noble, and you don't see racks of used books for sale. Ditto for walking into a standalone video store. but nearly every store that sells games has racks of used ones these days. That just makes the publishers get even more testy about the whole thing.

A couple points:

1) If new game sales are being undercut by used sales because new games cost so much money, maybe they need to reconsider their price point for new games. They'd probably sell a hell of a lot more copies (and people would be less inclined to buy and sell used) if games cost less than $60 a pop. Just because the game cost millions to produce doesn't mean the retail price has to be so high. A blockbuster movie can cost hundreds of millions to produce, yet you can buy a movie ticket for ~$10 and purchase the DVD for under $20.

2) I doubt used sales really undercut new sales. In fact, I suspect the reverse is true, and that used sales actually spur new sales. All those retailers who deal in used games usually have some sort of trade-in program - i.e. you can trade in your used games for credit towards buying new games. Why do many people sell their used games? So that they can use that money to buy new games. In this way, the used market actually stimulates the sales of used games that many people would not otherwise be able to afford.

3) None of this is the consumer's problem anyway. Consumers shouldn't have to abdicate their rights just because video game developers and publishers can't figure out a working business model.

You'd think these companies would learn... You spend all these R&D dollars to DRM your product into an unusable state only to have the hackers crack your garbage a month later. Guess who comes out looking like heroes and guess who looks like asshats?

Valve stumbled onto the greatest retail model in a long time. Offer a service for free that basically cloud stores all your purchases for you. Then, instead of sticking it to your user base, actually offer them sales and deals on things they might actually like.

Multiply by tens of millions of people, and this could be the decision that sinks Sony. Too bad, too, 'cuz over the years I liked my:

WalkmanHome video cameraDVD playerTVSurround soundPS2PS3

I consider myself a decent customer to the brand, so FU Sony if you try to limit my use of used/borrowed games. My kids and I almost never go online, so yeah, we're "liters", but we spend money on consoles and games, too.

HindiDiscoMonster:FinFangFark: Burr: I used to buy about one new game a month back in day, starting in the early 90's. Around 2000 that number started dropping. Now I either buy used (about 6-12 months after it comes out) and maybe 1 new game a year. It might be that I have changed somewhat, but it just seems like such a hassle anymore, and I grew up with making boot disks, CONFIG.SYS and HIMEM.

/has a library of at least 200 games over about 5 different systems, most of them are PC.//"collector"

You know Nintendo won't go this route, and I think Microsoft was just throwing it out there to see if would stick. But, with that said, if both companies DID do this, you can look at PC gaming to take a huge jump again, especially if people start throwing emulators out there that can crack these discs.

And discs? Really? Do flash drives have a lower life expectancy vs discs still?

[technabob.com image 520x485]That's how we did it back in the day... also a lot harder to copy.

/everything old is new again

Carts were not flash based, they were roms. They were also very expensive to produce.

I think what keeps the main consoles from adopting flash is well, stuff like blu-ray is dirt cheap per disc, compared to the size you get. Probably pennies per stamped disc these days.

FinFangFark:Burr: I used to buy about one new game a month back in day, starting in the early 90's. Around 2000 that number started dropping. Now I either buy used (about 6-12 months after it comes out) and maybe 1 new game a year. It might be that I have changed somewhat, but it just seems like such a hassle anymore, and I grew up with making boot disks, CONFIG.SYS and HIMEM.

/has a library of at least 200 games over about 5 different systems, most of them are PC.//"collector"

You know Nintendo won't go this route, and I think Microsoft was just throwing it out there to see if would stick. But, with that said, if both companies DID do this, you can look at PC gaming to take a huge jump again, especially if people start throwing emulators out there that can crack these discs.

And discs? Really? Do flash drives have a lower life expectancy vs discs still?

Burr:I used to buy about one new game a month back in day, starting in the early 90's. Around 2000 that number started dropping. Now I either buy used (about 6-12 months after it comes out) and maybe 1 new game a year. It might be that I have changed somewhat, but it just seems like such a hassle anymore, and I grew up with making boot disks, CONFIG.SYS and HIMEM.

/has a library of at least 200 games over about 5 different systems, most of them are PC.//"collector"

You know Nintendo won't go this route, and I think Microsoft was just throwing it out there to see if would stick. But, with that said, if both companies DID do this, you can look at PC gaming to take a huge jump again, especially if people start throwing emulators out there that can crack these discs.

And discs? Really? Do flash drives have a lower life expectancy vs discs still?